All I Want For Christmas Is You
by Chellerbelle
Summary: All Rogue wants for Christmas is Gambit.


Thanks as always to my writing buddy **JayCee's RedGold** for her input on this story.

**All I Want for Christmas is You**

"Hey Rogue," Kitty said upon finding her friend curled up with a good book in the library. "Whatcha want for Christmas?"

Rogue looked up from her book at Kitty. With the contents of her romance novel quite fresh in her mind, a vision of the enigmatic mutant thief Gambit wearing nothing but a big red ribbon appeared in her head. She coughed.

"I dunno. Books," Rogue said irritably. "You know, if you're my Secret Santa, you're not being very secret about it."

"I'm asking on behalf of your Secret Santa," Kitty replied with dignity.

"Uh huh," Rogue responded, looking back down at her book. "Well while you're at it, let them know that if I end up with anything stupid like one of those _Twilight _books, I'll kick their ass."

"Duly noted," Kitty replied with a giggle and departed.

Rogue sighed loudly and went back to her book. Or tried to, but she found that rather than being able to reimmurse herself in the pages of the romantic fantasy, her mind drifted elsewhere.

Abruptly an explosion went off, blowing up the outside wall of the library only feet away from where she was sitting. As the mansion's alarms went off, she flung her book aside and ran to the hole in the wall. Standing tall in the shadows, eyes glowing with fire, was none other than Gambit himself. His hair had grown out from that stupid mushroom cut she'd first seen him in and his now long locks were blowing free in the night breeze. A charged card danced through his fingers on one hand leaving a trail of light in its wake, and his other hand held his staff in a deceptively lazy fashion.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Swamp Rat?" Rogue demanded, stalking over to him.

Though she asked the question, she gave him no chance to respond before striking at him. He dodged, but Rogue was not so easily foiled. The cards went flying as they tussled, and exploded on impact against the mansion wall as Gambit hooked Rogue with his staff, her back against his front.

"Why, I'm here to collect my Christmas present," he murmured huskily into her ear.

Rogue elbowed him in the stomach and attempted to stomp on his food but although he was forced to release his grip on her, he was able to move his foot in time. She turned to face him, swinging her leg around to kick him in the process. He caught her leg and pulled her to him. With her leg now hooked around him, he caught her face with his hand, leaned in and...

"Hey Rogue?"

Rogue was jolted out of her little fantasy by this hail and she turned her Glare of Doom upon Jamie. Jamie trembled a little at the sight of it, which placated Rogue just a teensy tiny bit.

"What?" she demanded.

"Uhh. Scott wanted me to remind you that you're supposed to be helping him make dinner,"Jamie replied nervously.

Rogue glanced at her watch and grunted.

"Bloody Summers is always early," she muttered as she found her bookmark. "I wonder if Jean has that problem too?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," Rogue said. "Tell Scott I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay!"

Rogue got up as Jamie bounded off. She headed upstairs to her room to put her book away, and then reported to the kitchen.

"You're late," Scott said, in the midst of chopping vegetables.

"No," Rogue replied tersely as she stepped in to help, "I'm on time. You're early. Is there even anything for me to do? Or has Scott the Overachiever got everything in hand?"

"Start cooking the meat, please," Scott said with a gesture to the beef strips sitting waiting.

Rogue rolled her eyes. She pulled out a frying pan and dripped some olive oil into it, swirled the pan around until the oil covered it. She turned on the stove and then slid the meat off the board into the frying pan.

While she waited her mind drifted off once again. A pair of strong, manly arms slid around her waist and she lifted her head to see Gambit resting his on her shoulder. She smiled at him and he smiled back and nuzzled her cheek. Rogue turned around in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck. Their lips met.

Gambit pushed her up against the bench. His hands went running down her body, got a grip and lifted her up onto the counter top. Rogue wrapped her legs around him, pulling him in nice and close. She kissed him thoroughly, her hands threading fingers in his hair. His hand found the hem of her shirt and started to climb in underneath, sliding over her skin and...

"Okay! Wow! So uhh, Rogue," Jean said, startling Rogue out of her daydream. "How's it all going?"

Rogue glanced at the meat and then over at Jean. She gave the telepath an odd look.

"Fine," Rogue replied. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing, I just wanted to know how this fabulous dinner was coming along," Jean said whilst not looking Rogue in the eye.

Rogue's eyes narrowed. Jean hadn't seen her little fantasy... had she? Scott just looked at the two girls with a confused expression on his face.

"Uh huh," Rogue said suspiciously. "I'm not all that big on stir fry. I think I prefer Cajun sausage myself."

Jean turned beet red and looked away from Rogue.

"I umm, I'm sure you do," she stammered.

"Well, next time you're in charge of cooking, you can make Cajun sausage," Scott said. "But it's my turn tonight, and we're doing stir fry."

As if to emphasise the point, Scott took that moment to inspect the meat and then add the vegetables with it. Rogue moved out of the way and let him take over.

"Can you get the plates out," Scott said to Rogue, "and serve up the rice? It should be ready about now."

Rogue glanced at the time. "I'm not doing that. By the time everyone comes down for dinner, the rice'll be cold."

"It will—" Scott glanced up at the clock. "Oh."

Rogue smirked and looked at Jean.

"Does he always come early?" she asked sweetly.

Jean closed her eyes and winced.

"I'd rather be early than late," Scott said.

Jean outright cringed.

"I suppose the man has a point," Rogue said, still smirking. "You wouldn't want to be late, would you, Jean?"

"Rogue, knock if off," Jean said with her face buried in her hand.

"Don't go poking around in my head then," Rogue snapped.

"It was an accident," Jean insisted. "Sometimes I pick up stray thoughts."

"Am I missing something?" Scott asked.

"Yes, but you're happier not knowing, and I wouldn't tell you anyway," Jean replied, and finally lifted her head to look at Rogue. "But seriously, Cajun sausage?"

"Well, we can't all have stir fry," Rogue said.

"We will be tonight," Scott insisted.

Jean buried her face in her hands again, and Rogue laughed.

* * *

A few days later, Rogue went to the mall with Kitty and a few others to do their Christmas shopping. It was mostly for their Secret Santa gifts, but certain people—Kitty in particular—wanted to do personal shopping as well. Which was how Rogue found herself in a trendy dress shop wishing she was anywhere else. Sighing, Rogue idly looked through racks of clothes she would never wear while Kitty tried things on in the change room.

In her mind Gambit grabbed her, spun her around, and kissed her soundly on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him as he pulled off a random item of clothing from the rack. With no interest or care in what anyone watching might think, still kissing all the while, Gambit led Rogue into the change rooms. He shut the curtain behind them and slung the clothes on the waiting hook while her hands ran frantically over his chest. He pulled her shirt up over her head and...

"Rogue?" Kitty said.

"Yah!" Rogue exclaimed, startled out of her daydream.

"Uhh, sorry," Kitty said, giving her a funny look as she held up her bag. "I'm ready to go now."

"Finally."

They departed from the shop, did a little more shopping, and then headed for the eatery where they met up with the others. Rogue ate her lunch in silence, wondering why she insisted on tormenting herself with visions of making out with Gambit. A sexy, smooth charmer like him probably wouldn't be the slightest bit interested in getting together with someone he couldn't even touch. They didn't even see each other outside the battlefield. Mooning over him like this probably just made her yet another victim of Stockholm Syndrome or something.

She finished off her burger and as she drank her milkshake, she happened to spot a man with shaggy brown hair kissing a beautiful blonde. For a moment she was convinced that it was Gambit she was seeing, but then the couple pulled away from each other after their kiss and Rogue realised he looked nothing like him. She sighed and stood up.

"I just remembered something," she told the group, "I'll be back in a bit."

Without giving anyone a chance to offer to come with her, Rogue quickly turned and walked away. She didn't really have anything to get, she just wanted some time to herself.

As she walked, she was sure from time to time she saw Gambit, but any time she turned to have a closer look it turned out not to be. She mentally berated herself every time, and tried to put him out of her mind and focus on all the pretty Christmas decorations instead.

The big day was coming up fast, and by "the big day" Rogue actually meant the Christmas party before everyone left to spend the real holiday with their families. Rogue would be staying at the mansion with Professor Xavier, Logan, and Hank. The mansion would feel empty as it always did over Christmas, and she and the three men would all busy themselves with their own projects. They would share a Christmas dinner with each other, but over-all it would be very low-key. Kurt had invited Rogue to join him and his family in Germany, but she declined. She felt like she would be an intruder on their family occasion.

Rogue stopped outside a clothes shop and looked at the manikins in the window dressed in gorgeous formal wear. She hated the cold, but the one thing she liked the most about winter in the northern states was that they could make covering up every inch of your skin fashionable. And yet somehow there still managed to be women who wore next to nothing and then wondered why they froze. Rogue had no sympathy for them, and yet come summer, she'd be bitterly jealous.

On impulse, Rogue walked inside, deciding that she was going to buy a present for herself. For all intents and purposes she was going to have the mansion to herself, so why not indulge herself with a skimpy little something. She looked through the clothes and tried to ignore the part of her mind that had been programmed to looked at clothes with a view to cover herself up. She had become rather adept at being able to layer clothes and accessorise, but that was not the point this time.

Discreetly Gambit watched nearby. He had been somewhat surprised to come across the X-men in the mall while he was indulging in a little Christmas "shopping" but not at all disappointed about Rogue leaving her friends in the eatery to go off on her own. Somewhere in the back of his mind there was a little voice pointing out that he was effectively stalking her right now, but he couldn't help himself. She had been on his mind a lot lately.

He toyed with the idea of approaching her, but then remembered something he'd heard the other X-Men say, something about a secret Santa. Gambit smiled to himself and headed off before Rogue (or security) noticed him watching her. He had just the idea.

* * *

The Christmas party came and went, and the next thing Rogue knew, she was seeing off the last of her friends to leave the mansion. Then it was just herself, Professor Xavier, Hank, and Logan, and it didn't take long for them to scatter to their own devices.

For Rogue this meant scampering up to her room and taking off layers of clothing. It was cold, so a certain number of layers were definitely required, even with the mansion's amazing heating system. Even so, it was was nice to shed a few unnecessary items of clothing.

While she was trading in her long-sleeved shirt for a shirt sleeved down, Rogue noticed a red envelope on her pillow. She pulled her shirt on, and then picked up the enveloped, unsealing it with her bare fingers (certainly felt a lot different to doing it with a glove on). Inside there was a letter. On the outside was written:

_Merry Christmas Rogue! We had a feeling you wouldn't accept this if we gave it to you in person, but we wanted you to have a great time over Christmas. Enjoy!_

Rogue unfolded the textured paper with much curiosity. Written inside was an itinerary which included a matinee performance of The Nutcracker (the ticket for which she found still in the envelope), dinner at one of the restaurants downtown, and a reservation for a night's stay in a hotel room. The theatre and the restaurant both had dress codes which were also noted on the itinerary. Rogue rather liked the idea of having an excuse to dress up.

The ballet wasn't for a couple of days, so Rogue went about her business. When she did encounter Logan, the Professor, or Hank, and mentioned it to them, none of them knew about what had been planned, but they all expressed how happy they were for her. Rogue found it a little curious that Professor Xavier, telepath that he was, hadn't found out, but realised he had a code of ethics and tried to avoid reading minds, so she didn't think anything more of it.

* * *

On the morning of the big day, Rogue packed an overnight bag and then tried to decide on an appropriate outfit. That part of her mind that was always looking for the best way to put an ensemble together, accessories and all, jumped in and started making calculations based on the little red dress she'd bought the other week.

By the time the limo arrived to pick her up, Rogue was dressed in knee-high black boots, black stockings, her new dress with its low neckline and spaghetti straps, opera length red gloves, and a black shawl. Her hair was done up, and she had decided to forgo her usual dark and heavy make up. She had packed a few extra things in her bag in case it got too cold.

Rogue was very excited about the limo, even moreso when the driver opened up the door for her. The interior was very smooth and sleek.

"I could get used to this," she said to herself.

The driver took her to the theatre and promised to return at the conclusion of the ballet, having been made aware by whoever had booked him what time it was due to end. Rogue double checked she had the ticket and headed inside. She left her overnight bag in the limo.

In due course the patrons of the theatre were let in to take their seats. Rogue made extra sure of her shawl as it turned out to be a fairly old theatre, meaning that the chairs were small, tight, and there was virtually no leg room.

Soon the theatre was full except for a few scattered seats and a clump at the back of the theatre. One of the seats next to her was also empty, and she had thought it was going to stay that was, but just as the lights dimmed, someone came and sat down. Fortunately, it was an aisle seat, so no one had to stand up to let him pass. Rogue didn't really think too much of him, other than his running late. The light wasn't really good enough to tell more than his shape anyway, and that he wore glasses.

Rogue quickly lost all interest in the late patron as the ballet began, and forgot all about him until just before the lights began to light, signalling time for intermission, when she found he vacated his seat rather quickly. She thought that was rather strange, but dismissed the matter. Maybe he just really wanted to use the bathroom and wanted to get there before the crowd.

She left with the the bulk of the audience to go out into the foyer to stretch her legs and get a drink and some snacks from the bar. Twenty minutes later, she headed back in, As before, the seat next to her remained empty until the light dimmed and only then did the mysterious patron sit down. She dismissed him from her mind and immersed herself in the second Act.

Come the end of the ballet, Rogue fully expected the man next to her to leave before she even stood. To her surprise when she rose after the lights came up, he rose with her. He was dressed in an elegant black suit with a red shirt and the glasses he wore were dark sunglasses and not prescription ones as she had assumed. He also had long brown hair that was tied in short pony tail.

"How'd you like the ballet?" he asked her.

Rogue started. It sounded just like...

"Gambit?" she exclaimed. She was so used to seeing him in his work clothes she hadn't even recognised him. "What are you doing here?"

He grinned at her. "I bought a couple of tickets."

"A couple..."

Gambit snatched up her hand. "Come, ma chère, I believe we're holding people up."

Rogue had no chance to stop or question him further when he led her out into the aisle. Still holding her hand, Gambit steered them through the crowd, out of the theatre, and to the limo. He opened up the door for her, and it was only then that he let go of her hand.

As she got into the limo the only explanation she could think of was that this was just another one of her fantasies. This whole thing was in her head. She was just imagining it. After all, the whole mysterious stranger thing was kind of sexy in its own way. Why wouldn't she start imagining it was Gambit?

Except that she couldn't remember instigating the fantasy, and when Gambit came in and sat next to her, he seemed far too real to me a figment of her imagination.

"And how was the ballet?" asked the driver.

"It was excellent, thank you," Gambit replied as he slipped his sunglasses into his inside jacket pocket. "If we could head onto the park, please, Rodger."

"Very good sir."

The window between the driver and the passengers rolled up, and Gambit turned his attention to Rogue. She looked back at him with a befuddled expression on her face.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Why, we're on a date, of course," Gambit replied slyly as he looked her over. "And might I say you look absolutely stunning tonight?"

"We're on a date?" she repeated. "Since when?"

"Why, since you accepted my invitation, of course," Gambit said. "The envelope I left for you the other day."

"Invite..." Rogue's eyes narrowed. "I thought that was from my friends. It said 'we'."

"I was using the Royal 'we'."

"Uh huh... Hey! That was on my bed!"

"Well, I would have put it in the mail, but I wanted to be sure you'd get it in plenty of time," Gambit replied, and tilted his head as he looked at her. He hadn't seen Rogue show off that much cleavage before. "Where have you been hiding that dress? You should definitely wear it more often."

"Don't change the subject, Swamp Rat!" she exclaimed. "If you wanted a date, don't you think you should have just asked me?"

Gambit shrugged. "Would the X-Man have agreed to go on a date with the Acolyte?"

"I..." Rogue shook her head. "You know, I'm starting to sense a pattern here. You didn't ask me about helping your father, you just went and kidnapped me without even bothering to find out if I might have said yes or not."

"Well, it worked so well the first time."

"I ought to..." she began and then remembered something. "Hey! There's a hotel room on this itinerary. That's a little presumptuous, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I managed to get two rooms so we could both get away for the night," he replied mildly. "They're adjoining though, so we can spend some time together before sleeping in separate rooms and not even have to go through the hallway."

"Oh."

He grinned at her. "What were you... Oh that's a little presumptuous, don't you think?"

"I'm going to kick your ass so hard, you're going to be crapping out of your mouth for a week."

"I didn't realise you were into the kinky stuff. Good to know."

Rogue glared at him and folded her arms tightly across her chest. Gambit's eyes flickered to her cleavage, since just that little bit more had been exposed from the action. He cleared his throat and looked back up at her eyes before she could tell him to stop staring at her chest or something.

"Anyway," he said as he sat right up next to her and lifted his hand to touch her hair. "If you're really that mad, I can take you home, but I'd really like if it you'd agree to spend the rest of the day with me. We do have that dinner reservation later..."

Rogue sighed. She had mixed feelings about the whole thing. Part of her was giddy with excitement at the idea of being on a date with Gambit (especially after all the fantasising she'd been doing). Part of her was furious with him. The rest of her wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't dreaming the whole thing.

"That was the plan, huh?' she asked. "Make me think my friends had gotten me this awesome Christmas present, and then when I was enjoying myself, then you drop the bomb on me and announce it's a date."

"No, no, you have it all wrong, ma chère."

"Uh huh."

"I'm giving you me as the Christmas present," Gambit said, grinning. "The ballet and the dinner and all that is just the wrapping."

"You're the Christmas present," Rogue repeated.

Now she really wasn't sure if she was just imagining him there or not. He certainly seemed real, but the idea of getting Gambit for Christmas just seemed a little too good to be true.

"Exactly," Gambit replied, edging just that little bit closer and moving his hand away from her hair and around her shoulders.

She lifted her eyes and chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. Her eyes drifted down to his lips. Well, there was only one way to know for sure.

Too fast for Gambit to have a chance to react, Rogue leaned in and kissed his lips. Instantly her powers kicked in and she pulled back, noting that the first thing she'd picked up from him was his earnest desire to win her over. At least in that he was genuine.

About a minute later, Gambit came to. He rubbed his head and then looked down to discovered that Rogue was snuggled into his arms. She looked up as he groaned.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"I needed to know something," Rogue replied, glancing out the windows as the limo started to pull up near the park.

"If I was telling the truth?"

"If this was actually real, or if I was just imagining the whole thing," she said.

"Imagining..." Gambit replied slowly as the limo came to a stop.

"Yeah, usually when I think about you like this, we can touch," she said teasingly, and before he could respond, she tugged at his arm. "Come on, let's go look at the awesome ice sculptures and bemoan our lack of artistic skills."

Gambit willingly let Rogue lead him out of the limo. He was too busy being delighted with Rogue's admission to object, even if he wanted to. So, Rogue fantasised about being with him, huh? Well, well, well...

As soon as they were clear of the limo he wrapped one arm around her and together they walked into the part to look at the various ice sculptures for the recently judged contest. The thin shawl wasn't quite warm enough for Rogue, but Gambit's proximity stopped her from getting too cold. Partway through their critique of the statues (which largely consisted of "that is so awesome, I wish I could do that"), Rogue gestured to a statue of a ballerina who bore a suspiciously close resemblance to Kitty.

"That's Piotr's entry," she said. "He got second place."

"Cool," Gambit replied. "'Bout time his talent got recognised. And is that a certain Shadowcat?"

"Oh yeah."

"Heh. Finally made a move, hein?"

"I could say the same thing about you."

Gambit chuckled and they continued looking at the ice sculptures. Rogue thought they must have looked a little out of place in the park in such good clothes, but she didn't care. However it might have been initiated, she was on a date with Gambit, something she'd been dreaming about for quite some time now.

They spent a little time window shopping, and then headed back to the limo where Rogue gratefully exchanged her shawl for her much warmer jacket. The limo took the scenic route to the restaurant.

Upon their arrival, the host showed Rogue and Gambit to a little table for two in a secluded corner and left them with menus. Rogue had never dined here and everything seems so very fancy, and all the items on the menu were rather expensive to boot.

"I'm paying," Gambit said in a tone that indicated she had better not argue with him about it. "So if you wanna order the most expensive thing on the menu, go for it."

Rogue snickered and continued browsing the descriptions of the available dishes.

"Pass," she said. "I'd rather pick something based on what I think I might like to eat, than what's going to make a bigger hole in your pocket. Money does not impress me, Remy LeBeau. And you probably stole most of yours anyway."

Gambit chuckled, then reached over and took her hand.

"I do believe that's the first time you've ever called me by name, chère," he said, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "Do I get to learn yours?"

Rogue glanced up at him, then looked back at the menu.

"Tell you what," she said. "If you ever find out what does impress me, then I'll tell you my name. But I warn you, my fellow X-Men have been trying to get me to spill for years."

"Oooh a challenge. How fun."

Rogue smirked at him. They decided on what they wanted and placed their orders when the waiter came around to get them. Rogue was both surprised and pleased when she and Gambit were able to settle into conversation like they'd been dating for years. Afterwards Rogue couldn't quite remember what they spoke about, but she'd heard that if you couldn't remember then it was a good conversation. That logic seemed a little strange to her, but it seemed to be true enough.

They were quite full after the main course, so they opted not to worry about dessert. After paying the bill they headed back out to the limo for the trip to the hotel. Gambit had already checked them in earlier, so they only needed to take themselves and Rogue's overnight bag up to the rooms.

"Well," Rogue said as she looked around and dropped her bag on the floor. "This is a nice room."

It was probably about the same size as her room at the mansion and sparsely furnished, but it was clean and elegant. Gambit came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.

"Glad you like it," he murmured into her ear.

Rogue slid her hands over his arms and turned her head toward him slightly, and slowly, so not to accidentally absorb him.

"Not as much as I like you," she said coyly.

Gambit grinned and kissed her opposite shoulder.

"Good to know," he said.

Rogue turned around in his arms, and wrapped hers behind his neck.

"So, what now?" she asked.

Gambit looked down at her body pressed against his, and then back up to her face.

"I can think of a few things," he said slyly. "I guess it depends on how far you're willing to go on a first date?"

Rogue chewed her bottom lip in a way that Gambit found extremely sexy. Then she smiled mischievously up at him.

"Well," she said, sliding her hands down to his shoulders where her fingers proceeded to draw circles over his arms. "You did say I could have you for Christmas."

Gambit grinned at her. "Yes, yes I did."

"And I'd hate to think you didn't think I fully appreciate this present," she went on, pressing her chest slightly into his.

"Oh no, we can't have that," Gambit replied, running his hands over her back and down to her hips.

"I'm just sorry that I haven't gotten anything for you this Christmas," Rogue said, batting her eyes at him. "Was there anything in particular you wanted?"

"Well, it's a little last minute," Gambit said, playing along although he was very much excited about this. "But I don't believe there's anything I want more."

"You want more dessert?" Rogue asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" it took a second and Gambit realised he was still at the restaurant with Rogue, enjoying a chocolate mousse. "Umm, anything to continue this moment with you."

"Well," Rogue pushed her bowl forward, "I'm done, I'm afraid this moment is over."

"Right," he frowned, checking his watch then realising there may be a silver lining, "on to the hotel then."

Rogue raised an eyebrow again.

"There's two rooms," he quickly reminded her.

"Then pay the waiter," she sat back in her seat and the look on her face was unreadable.

Not much later, they made the quiet drive to the hotel, much of it playing out as it had in Gambit's fantasy but he wasn't nearly as sure how well the woman would take his advances under the circumstances.

As Gambit got out the room key to pop the door, Rogue leaned up against the wall. "You know, Swamp Rat, this has actually been kinda nice."

"I'm glad." The lock turned green and he pushed open the door.

"I didn't get you anything though," she went on and his heart skipped a beat. "Was there anything in particular you wanted?"

"You," he wanted to say, but instead came out with "This here Cajun just wanted you to have a Merry Christmas, you had that at least?"

"Oh, I did." She pushed off from the wall and stepped into the doorway.

"Well, good," he said and stepped back to depart. "Good night then. I'll—"

"And where do you think you're going?" Rogue asked, grabbing his arm before he could get far.

"My room?" Gambit replied, feeling both confused and hopeful.

"I don't think so," Rogue replied, tugging him into her room with her. "You said you were giving me you for Christmas. And that's the only thing I wanted this year."

With a gleeful grin on his face Gambit followed inside, making sure to put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.


End file.
